A Written Destiny ||A Music Freaks Fantasy AU

Chapter Six: Anger Rising

"Ah, yep, there she goes."

"Finally!"

"Move aside, Jake! She'll want to see her favourite uncle first!"

"Oh, shut up, Zander. We all know the mother's the most wanted."

"Sibling rivalry I see," a chuckle sounded.

Star blinked, adjusting to a sudden bright light above her. She seemed to be lying on something soft. A bed, perhaps? Was she back at home? Whatever it was didn't seem to matter. She felt slightly woozy, and the bed was so soft...

Above her a ceiling fan spun lazily around, and a soft gale tugged on her face. Firelight flickered, its shadows flickering against the wall as logs lined against the roof. Maybe she was in some sort of cabin.

Suddenly, everything came rushing back to her. Laura, the encounter in the Speckled Woods, the fight... how she had just narrowly escaped. She sat up quickly, but then clutched her head as it began to spin. Her ear was throbbing, and the skin near her cut wrist was raw and shiny.

"Stay still!" a female voice came. She looked up to see a blurred figure with vibrant pink hair and scarlet eyes.

"Huh?" Star blinked a few more times, and then everything came into focus.

"Oh! Milly!"

"That's me," Milly chuckled.

"But... What are you doing here? Scratch that, how did you even get in this world? The book -"

"We know, we know," said a musical voice. Star's eyes met glittering midnight ones.

"Mum!"

"Your father's here too!" she turned to find Jake, and she grinned.

"Hello? Are you going to forget your favourite uncles?"

"ZANDER!" Star tackled him with a hug, and he nearly crashed into Luke. He laughed and patted her back.

"There we go."

"How on earth are you guys here?" she asked, eyes widening. 

"Hush now, you've been out for two days," said Hailey, making her sit down. "You'll want to rest. Especially after that awful cut Laura gave you on your ear. Normally it wouldn't be as bad, but she must've put some sort of special spell or enchantment on it, because it's been bleeding for an entire day."

"You know about Laura?" asked Star, surprised.

"I've been filling them in," someone with a soft voice said. She turned in surprise to find... Esme.

Her ghost floated across the floor towards them. Though she was a ghost, she still cast a shadow, which quivered shakily below her.

"Esme?" said Star in a hushed voice.

Esme smiled. "They were worried, you know. Time seems to pass faster here in this world than on Earth. Your parents were worried sick, and were searching for you all over the school. Somehow, they stumbled in the room where I was..."

"You were visible?" Star asked, clearly confused. "But... you could only be summoned, right? So... how were you still there?"

"I'm not sure yet," said Esme uneasily. "But for whatever reason, I was still there like I had always been alive, and the portal was still open."

"Still ope -"

"Star, hush," said Hailey firmly. Star obeyed.

"The feeling when I neared it..." Esme groped for words, "it's like... It's like it was waiting. Waiting for help or - waiting for people to come. And when Hailey, Jake, Milly, Luke, and Zander showed up... I knew it was them. I knew that they were supposed to follow you here on your... quest."